Omaha daily bee., 1887-05-08

Delmonlco's the waitcrs receive salary
of $25 month"; and make rs high as 81
day, or $3.50 II month, in tips. Why
impose six Xsevenths of the burden of the
| servants compensation upon the public,
| and not seven-sevenths? The step is, of
course, short one to that European sys-
tenn under which the servants pay fixed
annual premiums to nominal employees
| for eligible positions from which they
| can prey upon the public.
| From what we have sad it follows that
obtaining money through an ostensibly
| voluntary, but really compulsory, process
is obtaining money under false pretenses;
it is a species of black mail, where inso-
| lence and insult follow a refusal to 'de-
| liver;' it is tolerated swindling, be-
out rendering any equivalent; and it is
| licensed robbery, less manly than the
footpad's because you are forced to pay
| q second time for what you nave too eX-
brilliantly paid for already. For it must
not be forgotten that when you pay your
| legitimate restaurant or hotel bill you pay
| for intelligent service and for proper
| clvility and proper attention, no less
| than for your napkins, knives, and food.
| Those miscellaneous gratuities are not
| defensible on the score OF charly, be-
! cause chief waters or superintendent,
| with whom the subordinaIes divide their
| ill-gotten gains. are frequently able to
| ride in their own carriages in Central
| park, and are in better financial condl-
! ton than many of those from whom they
receive gratuitics. If it be SAID that these
servants cannot live on $25 or $40 a
month, hence are objects of charity, the
| answer is, that thousands of deserving
men and women all around us are re-
ceiving less. If these able bodied table
servants cannot live on their legitimate
pay, they should seek other employment
and not be hourly asking aims.
That the practice we are considering
is detrimental to the interests of employ
ers is demonstrable, IN fact, is conceded
themselves. In collusion with cooks,
walters will often serve extra portions,
or extra large portions in expectation of
thereby establishing claim on the lib
erality of the guest. Thus they rob their
employer by serving what is not paid for,
in, order to make profit for them
selves: At hotels, conducted on the
mously the waste of food, by bringing
guests more than they have ordered.
Much good food is wasted at a large
American hotel and this waste is doubled
through the tipping swindle. But the
proprietors of hotels say they are power
less to get rid of the evil. When it was
suggested to the manager of one of the
would be thousands of dollars in his
pocket if he should declare war upon the
growing abuses and put an end to the
robbery of his patrons, he replied: 1T
can't be done; should lose two months
business if | attempted it," In explana
ton he said that his help would all I'M
mediately leave him; that he could no
keep bell.boy or chambermaid; and tina
it would take two months to get together
servants that might stay upon being paid
higher wages than other hotels were
paying. Thus, then, this organized evil
has introduced reign of terror; its sys-
tematized tyranny cannot be resisted by
those whose interest it is to escape from
its control. Ii this be true, is it not high
time that this plundering servants boy.
colt should be terminated!
But the weightIest objections to this
system remain to be stated. The tip
earned gratuities, are debased and de-
moralized by the irrational usage. The
best way found, since the world began,
to get money, IS to earn it.. But if able-
bOdied men can get half-dollar by
standing around opera houses, and
opening the doors of gentlemens
carriages. they will not work q
halliday for the same sum. A lackey
will not toll an hour for a quarter of a
dollar, il he can get as much by handing
fop a match or a tOoth-pick. Hard
work Is precisely what the professional
tp-hunters have an aversion to; their re.
| pugnance to labor increases with the in
crease of their easily COTTON gratuites
Nor will they strive to please, if tip
must follow whether they please or not
| BY placing themselves in the attitude of
Il xl,z...
| A distaste for all work which brings in
gains slowly soon follows. The
real working classes are hence,
constantly depleted and the
class of light workers REINFORCED by the
indolent and thoughtless, who are de.
luded with visions of sudden riches and
rapid gains In the old world the de-
mOralization of labor through this
agency is universal. So wide spread has
consul-general at frankfort, Hon. Alfred
+. Lee, forwarded, in 1880, an official re.
| port to his government upon this subject.
! The consul-general says:
| "In estimating the rates of wages, the pre-
! yailing habit OF paying petty gratuit les
| known as trinkgeld, drink-money, should be
taken into account. This vicious custom,
| which 1t IL to be hoped may never take root
in our country, bears the remarks of the old
| feudal system, which made the employer a
master ana the employed serf, and is one
Of the most demoralizing influences which
affects German labor. The practice of max
ing part of the labOrer's compensation a
favor, to be conferred at discretion, reduces
his independence, degrades his manhood and
converts honorable toll into a sort of lie.
enseJ beggary. When the work.
man has earned his wages he is entitled tC
receive their full amount, independently OF
the discretion of his employer, and wthou,
liability TO that natural contempt which is
felt for well-dressed or able-bodied mend
wages which he does not earn, his employer
Is imposed upon, and the position OF tie EN-
ploye is that of person supported in idle
ness or dependent upon charity The effec
OF the drink-mOney system on the morals O
labor may be readily inferred. for even if the
margin between licensed mendicancy ant
dishonesty were wide. the one would be
standing temptation to the other"
[ Mr. lee'a renort need not he anntcl